Telecom customers in Northland are demanding action and compensation as they wait for repairs to faulty phone lines.
A backlog of faults is growing in the region as a strike continues by line workers who do not want to become owner-operators for Telecom's new contractor, Visionstream.
Telecom said last week that customers would get a speedier faults service from this week, when Visionstream takes over.
But Lynnell Schwed, from Ruakaka, whose phone has been disconnected for a week, says Telecom has told her she will have to wait for another 11 days. She says about 20 properties in the Ruakaka area are without phones.
Ms Schwed says the lack of phone and Internet has cost her horticultural business about $1000, and Telecom should compensate business customers like her for their losses.
Telecom is blaming industrial action for the delays.
